A number of plants are propagated commercially by the tissue culture method. According to this method selected tissues of the desired plant are grown on a medium which causes multiplication of the tissues. These multiplied tissues are divided and the divisions are grown on other media which cause rapid increase of organs and other structures ultimately giving rise to complete regenerated plants.
The plant regeneration can be achieved from organized cell systems, such as bud, stem segment, shoot tip, meristem, and other organ cultures. Regeneration can also be accomplished using unorganized systems, such as callus and suspension-cultured cells. Since true clones of a plant are most readily obtained from regenerated plants by means of axillary shoots from organized systems, such systems are usually used as the starting material for commercial microplant propagation.
The efficiency of plant propagation by means of multiple shoot formation from organized systems depends on the rapid formation of a number of shoots from the system. The present invention is based on a discovery of a process for increasing the rate at which shoots are produced from the organized systems. Furthermore, the process of this invention greatly enhances the rate of formation of roots and other structures thereby accelerating the rate of formation of complete regenerated plants.